Tag Archives: disney

In my final post regarding the Star Wars Race Weekend, I will finally talk about the Half Marathon. In case you aren’t familiar with the RunDisney race weekends, they have all sort of evolved to having a “Challenge” option. With exception to Marathon Weekend in January, every other race weekend has an option to sign up for both the 10km on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday. (Marathon Weekend goes one step further and has the Dopey Challenge where you do the 5km, 10km, half and full….I did this in 2014 and that was my driving force for fundraising in memory of my late father)

Dan and I were both signed up for the Dark Order Challenge, so in addition to the 10km we completed on Saturday we would be running in a half marathon on Sunday. We went to bed at a reasonable time Saturday night and then participated in a Groundhog Day style moment Sunday moment where I got up at 2:30 am to pump and we got ready and headed to the transportation to race start.

I did want to make sure we got closer to the front of our corral than we were for the 10km, so that meant we weren’t going to waste time wandering slowly in the open areas. We walked all the way to the back portion of the staging area to use the farthest porta potties and then went to the holding pen for Corral A. They eventually moved Corral A into the starting gate and we were only a few rows back from the very front. Nice!

Waiting around is kind of boring at any race, so at least at a Disney race they have announcers, video footage, and characters to help pass the time. Again, I am not a Star Wars fan. I am not against it, or hate it, I just don’t know anything about it. What I learned while standing there watching different trailers for new movies and highlights from old movies is that 1.) Good guys have blue and green light sabres and 2.) bad guys have red light sabres. Am I right?

Onto the race….

I knew this would be interesting because this would be the first Disney race challenge that I would try and ‘race’ back-to-back events. I usually will race one of them, and take the other easy. For instance, in 2015 I raced the Disneyland 10km and then for the half marathon I ran with Ali pacing her to a personal best. Really, that’s the smart thing to do. But I wanted to push. Dan agreed to run along with me this race so at least I’d have him by my side. Race started and off we went!

I knew the first miles of the course were technically just like the portion of the full marathon from after the monorail hotels. But this would be different because at 5:30 am it would still be dark. I was nervous it would be as boring as the previous days’ 10km, but both Dan and I were pleased the the first couple miles that were heavily tree-lined also had lots of lights, music, sound effects and photo stops on the side. We weren’t stopping for any photos but it is still nice to see these up ahead and to look at them as you run by.

By the time we got to Animal Kingdom, we were getting warm. The humidity was bothering me more today than Saturday, and I am not sure if it was more humid even or if it was just the fact that I knew I had more miles ahead of me than I did the day prior. I tried not to think about it when we ran through Animal Kingdom, and I actually forgot about it briefly when Dan and I had some man draft behind us for about a mile who had the most annoying breathing pattern. I kept trying to speed up to lose him but he kept creeping behind us and right between us. GO AWAY!!!! I eventually slowed a tad just to let this guy through because I was ready to lose my shit. This was at about the time we were running through Pandora so I didn’t really get to take in all the scenery as I was just annoyed with this man. If anyone knows the man in the photo below between Dan and I, please let him know he should not sidle up to others. Thanks.

We made our way out of Animal Kingdom by way of Dinoland and hit an aid station. Dan and I were so thirsty that we decided to powerwalk through the aid station to drink Powerade and dump water on ourselves. Did I mention it was humid? Shortly after this aid station we made a joint decision: we would walk through every aid station and pound Powerade and dump water. It would be needed for survival. Ultimately, I am glad we did this even though I know our time was slower because of the walking. But if we hadn’t, the final time may have been even worse because we would have been piles of crap.

Also as we left Animal Kingdom I did an unheard of thing for myself: I took my tanktop off and ran in my sports bra. I may wear revealing bikinis on the beach, but when I work out or run or do yard work I do not like just being in a sports bra and shorts. Just not my thing. But again….the humidity was terrible. Dan encouraged me to do this, as he had already taken his top off and felt better immediately after doing so. I will admit it did feel great to get the top off. I didn’t ditch the top, as it is one of my favorite LuluLemon tops, so I wrapped it around my water belt.

After making the decision to take it easy through the aid stations and shed my shirt, Dan and I both relaxed and had a lot of fun! We still tried to keep up a good pace, but my legs were getting pretty tired, most likely due to the 10km from the previous day. We were also getting hungry! I think our early 5pm dinner the night before, the smaller breakfast that morning, and my pumping before the race all played into my hunger pains. The Powerade provided some liquid calories and sugars to keep us ‘up’ and then when we got to the food station we both took two packs of the Sport Beans to eat. We needed fuel bad! Once we got to Hollywood Studios, however, I knew we could both muster the necessary energy needed in order to finish strong.

While we didn’t stop for any photo stops, we did get lots of great Photopass picutres taken of us. During the food station I actually took some time to get my race bib off of my sweaty, wet tank top and put onto my water belt. This was important because your race number IDs you for the photos! Since my mom is an annual passmember she gets Photopass included and she could register our race bibs on her account. So ‘free photos’ if you want to use that term loosely!

We finished the race with an official time of 1:50.35. Dan’s time did not show up on RunDisney and I am thinking it is because he ruined the timing chip on his bib the night before. After running the 10km, he took his shirt and wrung it out because it was soaked, completely crumpling his bib. I pointed out he needed to use it the next day and the look on his face was so crushed. Our splits were as follows (and for the record my watch recorded the distance to be 13.3 miles. I glanced at my watch when it hit the 13.1 and the time was around 1:49.14)

I don’t know when the next RunDisney race weekend that we attend will be, but I know this won’t be the last! We really did enjoy ourselves, from the well-planned out expo, to me running beyond my goal time in the 10km, to us running together as husband & wife in the half! You don’t necessarily need to be a ‘fan’ of the race theme to have a great time at the race weekend!

Note: I have extra medals compared to Dan because I had registered for the Kessel Run Challenge in addition to the Dark Order Challenge. This meant I did the Start Wars Virtual Half Marathon at home, earned that medal, PLUS the Kessel Run medal at the completion of this race. RunDisney sure knows how to take my money….bling bling.

When we planned our trip to Disney, I asked my husband if he wanted us to try and incorporate a race weekend into it. Since we both agreed that it would be fun to do a race weekend, (and more so since my mom would be there with us so she could watch Andy on race mornings) we went ahead and planned our trip around the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend.

I am going out on a limb here and saying that this race weekend has some hardcore Star Wars fans. Sorry, but Dan and I aren’t. Well, Dan has seen all the movies and enjoys them. I will admit that I have only seen the third movie in the original instalment….yes, I suck. So with all that being said, our takeaways from the race weekend will be a little different than those of people who are hardcore Star Wars fans.

We arrived to Disney on Thursday of race weekend. We headed over to the Expo at around 5pm that night. I am usually at Disney race expos right when they open at the morning, and the last time I went in the evening was Wine & Dine 2013. I need to give two huge thumbs up to what I view as positive changes at the Disney Expo. The official Run Disney merchandise is no longer in the main exhibition hall. They have it in a separate field house. The last few years the lines to get into the exhibition field house were CRAZY and it was all because of the official merchandise. Now, we weren’t at the Expo first thing so I am not sure how crazy the lines were in the morning. But Dan and I were able to casually walk in and look at merchandise without having to wait. I hope they keep it like this!

Now onto race morning! RunDisney events are still very early and that poses a challenge in itself. My alarm went off at 2:30 am…gross. I had it this early so I could pump before we headed out. I woke Dan up at 3:20 am, and we were out the hotel door by 3:45 am. Getting on the provided transport to the start area was a breeze and we were dropped off shortly after 4.

This was the first RunDisney event I’ve done where we start at the Ticket & Transportation Center parking lot. A major pro in this start area is that you do not have an epic journey to the corrals like you do when it starts at EPCOT. There are also TONS of porta potties. We made our way into the corral at what I thought was a decent enough time ahead of the start (30 minutes) but we were kind of stuck in the middle of the pack. The corrals for the 10km are a bit frustrating because if you are a runner doing just the 10km, you don’t need a proof of time submitted. You just submit an estimated pace per mile and your are assigned a corral that way. So there are presumably some runners in the corral who should probably not be in corral A. I made Dan hold my hand as I weaved our way up towards the from 1/3 of people. I gave up trying to get closer to the front at that point.

Race started at 5:30 am. Dan and I were both going to race it the best we could, and not necessarily stay together. Had to do some careful zigzagging the first 400 metres or so to get around people who didn’t really properly self-seed themselves. But then we were good. Dan was ahead of me to start and I just tried to hold my own. My goal going into this race was to run in the 45 minute range. I set this goal back in January when I made running goals for the year. I wasn’t really sure if this was too lofty of a goal being that I ran a 47:13 in mid March at Moonlight Run 10km. But I figured I would just push it and see what happened.

I will say this about the race; the first 5km was so boring. Once we go away from the Ticket & Transportation Centre (which was by half a mile) we were just on a boring straight away of darkness. There was really nothing to see and no entertainment around. I then just had to focus on every female runner that was ahead of me and kept my mind thinking about catching each one. This gave me something to think about while running, because otherwise there was absolutely nothing to see.

The humidity was bothering me a bit, but I made sure to grab water at the water stations and dump it over my head. It wasn’t that ‘hot’ outside, but I was getting sweaty very easily so I knew I needed this water dumping to cool off and keep myself sane. It wasn’t until mile 4 that we actually got to some scenery. This is when we entered Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

At this point in a 10km I usually struggle a bit. Normally I struggle because I may have pushed my first mile way too fast and I’m now suffering because of it. While my first mile was fast at a 6:47, it wasn’t ridiculous and in the low 6:00 range. I’ve done that many times before and then my legs are just beat by mile 4 and 5. By the time I got to mile 4, my first four splits were 6:47, 7:03, 7:14, and 7:08. I had actually picked up a bit in mile 4!

I had a lot of fun from mile 4 until the finish. Since we were now inside the parks and hotel areas, there were lots of photographers. As hot and sticky as I was, I still managed to smile and wave whenever I saw a photographer. I was being competitive in the race but also trying to stay light hearted and have fun. It was somewhere between mile 5 and 6 that I saw Dan. I could tell the humidity was getting to him. I caught up to him and hoped that it would keep pushing him and that we’d finish together. Spoiler: we didn’t, as I did stay ahead of him during this race. But during the half, we ran together and if we hadn’t I think he definitely would have finished before me (more on that in my next post). I ran mile 5 and 6 in 7:14 and 7:25, respectively.

When I crossed the finish line, my official time was a 44:58!!! HOLY SHIT! I not only achieved my goal but surpassed it! The distance on my watch read 6.30 miles, which is common in a race like this due to crowds and weaving in extra distance. I was so excited with my time and I hung past the finish line for a few seconds to wait for Dan to cross so I could tell him.

By the time we walked through the post race area and got on the bus back to the hotel, unofficial results were coming in on the RunDisney result page. While I was hoping for an age group award, what I came to find out was that I was one of the top 10 female finishers. I did not see that coming! After all was said and done, I was the 10th female finisher in the race, out of 6005 women! Keep in mind, a lot of people do RunDisney races for different reasons. Many people are doing them as their first race, and because of the required race pace many people will walk. But regardless, I was ecstatic! I did get my age group award I was hoping for, placing 2nd out of 940 in the 30-34 female division. RunDisney will mail the awards in the next coming weeks so I look forward to receiving it. The icing on the cake for this race was that Dan and I were back to our hotel by before 7 am and Andy and my mom had not woken up yet! Time to wake them up and start our Saturday!

To say that 2017 was a crazy year is an understatement. I started the year off in Walt Disney World with my mom and best friend. I was pregnant and participated in the Marathon Weekend events. Then, shortly after coming home, I found out I miscarried. An immense amount of anger took over me. But things have a funny way of working out. No less than 6 weeks after my D&C I discovered I was pregnant again. We had many early ultrasounds and blood tests to confirm the pregnancy. We went for the 1st trimester screening test and were able to see a clear image of our growing baby. At 20 weeks we found out we were having a baby boy.

All during this time I continued to run, using it as a coping mechanism from when I first found out the bad news, and then as a stress reliever to help keep some normalcy in my life. How much did I run this year? Not as many races as I had in years prior, but quite a few. I did three 5km races, three 5km virtual races, one 6km, one 4 mile, one 8km, two 10kms, a half marathon relay, two half marathons and one full marathon. I am most proud of the 10km I ran at 35 weeks pregnant, which I completed in 1:02.50!

It was shortly after that race that I found out I had pre-hypertension. This was discovered at my 37 week appointment. I was done with work immediately, and one week later I was induced and gave birth to our son, Andrew Allen Pottage. Labour was the most pain I’ve ever been in. It was worse than any race I ever competed in. But making it to this finish line was oh so sweet.

I have now pretty much fully recovered from not only the pregnancy and delivery, but also from my surprise appendectomy that I had at the beginning of December. Now that I am ready to take on 2018, I have some big plans.

I will be joining Runners Soul marathon club for my 6th season. I will be training for the half marathon distance, where I’ll run the Red Deer Half over May Long weekend. Before May Long, I will do Moonlight Run 10km, 10 mile road race and the Walt Disney World Star Wars Half Marathon weekend, with both the 10km and half marathon events. That will be an exciting trip, as it will be our first time on an airplane with baby Andy! I can’t wait to take him to Disney World, and even though he won’t remember a damn thing, the memories and photos will be ones to cherish.

The biggest running news for 2018 is that my husband and I will be heading to Berlin, Germany, in September to run the Berlin Marathon! The opportunity was presented to us through our local running store Runners Soul, and there is a group of us heading out there to run in this World Marathon Major event! And did you notice I said “my husband and I”? YES, Dan will be running a full marathon! He actually will be doing the Red Deer Full Marathon in May as his first full, in order to figure things out and see how much pain he is in afterwards. But this is going to be such a memorable race-cation for us!

I’ll still blog in the new year, though, it may not be as often as I used to. With the baby and all, things are a little different. I will always do my race recaps, but also hope to talk about how training postpartum is going. I am sure there will be some frustration as I try to get back to where I was before baby, and I hope to share how it is all going.

I haven’t been active here lately, partly due to my roadtrip! On July 31st, I packed up my trusty 2009 Pontiac Vibe and hit the road. Along with the essential clothing, toiletries and podcasts to entertain, I also packed my 9 year old beagle, Snoopy. Where were we heading? We were going across the border south east to my hometown of Franklin, Wisconsin. We had stopovers planned in Longville, Minnesota (my aunt and uncle live there). Snoopy is an excellent travel companion; I honestly cannot say that enough. He just curls up and sleeps the whole time, does not fuss, and is excited to arrive to any destination. So I kept myself occupied by listening to a variety of podcasts and when I really started losing it I would talk to Snoopy.

All packed and ready to hit the road!

We made it to my mom’s on August 4th, and we stayed until August 22nd. During that time, I was able to see all of my family that lives in the area, attend a closing day of Badgerette Pom Pon camp (I worked for Badgerette for 5 summers), watch the State Distinguished Young Woman show with my friend Maureen (I won 2nd alternate back in it’s Junior Miss hey day), go to two travelling beer gardens, see a bunch of my friends back home, eat and drink my way through both Wisconsin State Fair & Zoo Ala Carte, go to my favourite Mexican restaurant 3 times, play in a bag toss tournament, and so much more.

“Swimming” with Snoopy in Lake Wabedo in Northern Minnesota

When you are in Longville, MN, you go to the Meat Raffle at the bar….and win!

Henry Winkler is forever immortalized as the Bronze Fonz on Milwaukee’s riverfront

MKEhome!

Snoopy posing in front of the Calatrava–Milwaukee Art Museum

The main reason I drove was so I would be able to bring back the remains of my childhood that was still housed at my moms. It wasn’t that she was forcing me to take it, but I have been gone since 2008, so I figured it was time. Yearbooks, photos, games, puzzles, Barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, etc, etc, etc….It is now all back in Alberta. I also packed up some New Glarus Beer, a ton of Wisconsin cheese, 32 bottles of Sprecher soda, and who knows what else. Snoopy and I arrived back in Lethbridge on August 24th. Wow, it felt good to get back! We both missed his daddy Dan and his brothers Woodstock and Faron.

Root River Beer Garden with all my Wisconsin Family!

Mom, Aunti Debbie, Uncle Chuck, Auntie Susie, Uncle John, Cousin Dan and his wife Anne and their girls, Cousin Jennifer and her husband Paul and their son, and Paul’s parents…Snoopy is hiding somewhere!

That’s for DAMN sure!

During that trip, I also started running. I had done my first 5km run prior to the trip in a numbing time of 33:43. I had walked and jogged a bunch during it. That was on July 28th. Remember, my foot surgery was on June 10th. I had been given the clear I could start running after my 6 week post op on July 21st. I did my first humid (SO HUMID AND HOT) Wisconsin run on August 7th. It was a little 20 minute jaunt that average 9:40 per mile. Oww. On August 11th, I went out to try and beat my July 28th 5km time. I did so handedly, running a 30:02! So close to that sub 30! I did a couple other 1-2 mile runs during my time in Wisconsin, but I wanted to try and get under 30 minutes. On August 16th, I set out to do that. I ran that 5km in 28:20! These gains I have made in less than a month since coming back into running are huge. I was going nuts not running for over 6 weeks, and taking this time to get my newly fixed foot used to running (and running properly) has been great.

5km well under 30 minutes!

Since returning to Lethbridge, I am happy that the humidity is gone. I have ran on August 25th, 26th and 27th, and the weather has been glorious. The biggest highlight was yesterday, the 27th. I went out to run a sole mile with the goal of getting between 8:00-8:15, a pace I was always easily able to obtain on my runs, and my sweet spot for my Boston qualifying pace. I finished that mile in 8:14! Guess what world…LAMMERS IS BACK!

And guess what today is? Today marks the start of WEEK 1 of my GOOFY CHALLENGE training plan. I have put together a very non-aggressive 19 week training plan with the goal of “comfortable completion” of the 2017 Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge, which is a half marathon on Saturday, January 7th followed by a full marathon on Sunday, January 8th. The even more special thing about this race is that I will be running my 2nd WDW full marathon alongside my best friend Ali. It will be her very first full marathon! I will be there to support her through those dark moments (especially between miles 15-23!!!) She has run half marathons before, and I have set her up with a training plan to coincides with her Spartan Race and Crossfit schedule. It will be a weekend to remember!

The original “Pottage Pose” from the marathon portion of the 2014 Dopey Challenge in WDW

19 weeks is a LONG training plan. When I ran the Vancouver Marathon in 2015 and Boston in 2016, I had an intense 16 week plan. This plan does not include speedwork. It just has two easy runs a week plus a long run on the Saturday. Then, in late October, I add another mid distance run on Friday, which will help prepare me for the two day challenge that Goofy presents. I am not going for any speed records at this race; I want to get my body back into running shape so I can begin to push myself again come the new year!

I have updated my 2016 race schedule, as I have a few local events in October and November. I will be recapping those after they occur, and I will definitely be keeping you posted on how my Goofy training goes. Until then, I need to get ready for my first day back at work tomorrow….Teachers start this week, with students coming in the day after Labour Day. For teachers, this is our “New Year”. Happy New Year to all the teachers, students and parents out there!

I’m sitting in the basement at 8:30 pm aimlessly switching between HGTV and the Sunday Night Football game. This is a first since August. School has been so busy that I have fallen behind on my posts. I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon and 10km back over Labour Day weekend…yes, first week in September…and haven’t written the recap yet. Well, it won’t be as long and glamorous of a recap as usual, but I’m getting it done tonight!

I went out to California Labour Day weekend of 2015, much as I had the year prior. I was going to do the RunDisney DumboDouble Dare Challenge. My BFF lives in Redondo Beach, so accommodations are easy! I booked the direct flight from Calgary on Thursday evening of the weekend knowing I’d be back before work started again on Thursday….but, oops. Misread the school calendar. While I knew I’d be taking a day off of teaching on the Friday, I thought it was just a work day (year prior classes hadn’t started yet). But I would miss a teaching day. And I hate missing teaching days. Especially since we only would have had one regular class day before I bailed. But I had the days planned to use, so it was what it was, and I went on my way.

Now, as a RunDisney veteran (so to speak) I knew what to expect with this weekend. I knew the lay of the land. But this weekend was different as my goal was to place in my age group in the 10km, beat my personal best of 41:30 in the race, and help my BFF crush her half marathon personal best.

Summer training went alright…but I was burnt out. I spoke in previous posts that I was feeling the burn and needed to rest. But with this 10km goal I didn’t want to stop. 10km race day came and I was anxious. And warm. It was by no means hot in Anaheim this particular weekend but the air is just different than Alberta and I was feeling clammy. I also had just had a sub par performance at a local Lethbridge half the weekend prior, that while placing and winning prize money, I had felt like garbage with stomach issues. I was nervous this would happen again.

Racing Disney races with a goal time in mind is so different than just doing them for fun. If you do them for a goal with the first corral you are in the DARK the whole race. I mean, it starts at 5:30 AM after all. I began with a dead on split at mile one of 6:31. If I held this I could well beat my goal. But my legs were already feeling a bit woozy and my body warm, so as I entered California Adventure I slowed to a 6:48 for mile 2.

Now, note…I am writing this recap a month and a half after the fact. I cannot remember the details but I knew I was counting women in front of me from the very start and trying to peg if they were my 30-34 age group. I just wanted to be top 3 in that.

Between mile 3 and 4 I was still trucking along but slowing. A lot. And I was getting frustrated. I had been at an extreme level for myself in April when I ran my 41:30 and felt like I should be able to match that here…low elevation, happiest place on earth….but as I ran down Main Street, through Tomorrowland, around Small World and through the back stage, I slowed to a 6:51 and 7:00. Damnit. What is going on? I had had mile repeat workouts at 6 am this summer that were fastest than this. I was running at “my happy place” but not happy.

I knew I was still in an OK position to hopefully place in my age group. I pushed on what I could for the last two miles. I got really scared as one woman passed me with about 800 left because she looked my age and I wasn’t sure how that would make the results look. Miles 5 and 6 were 7:23 and 7:18. I finished with an official time of 43:28. I was mad. Frustrated. I felt like I was better than this.

In the end, this was good enough for 3rd out of 1046 in my age group.Yeah, I realize how that sounds, and now it looks like I’m looking for a pity party….but while I reached my goal of placing in a RunDisney event, I didn’t do it to the caliber I know I am capable of. Maybe I have now set myself into a bad spot, as I spent the first six months of 2015 breaking my own personal bests and thus, maybe I think I can keep up with that?

Second week of October I received the email from RunDisney verifying my address and where to send my age group award. And this weekend I just finished coaching five amazing grade 12 runners at Alberta Cross Country Provincials. These things put it in perspective.1.) I did reach a goal. I set a goal to place in my age group at a RunDisney event. And I did. 2.) All weekend I told my girls to go out and run the best race they could. That every day is different. That every course is different. And that just because they ran a certain time on a 4km course in Medicine Hat, Alberta, didn’t mean they could get that or beat that, or beat the same girls for that matter, while running on a new course in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

Every race is different. Some don’t turn out exactly how you hope, but that’s why I just keep running. After being around all these amazing young athletes this weekend, I realize how stupid I was to get mad that I didn’t get my time goal. Getting a personal best isn’t going to happen every race you run; I realize that. But I had a convoluted idea in my mind that while in Disneyland, anything can happen. I’ll just have to set that time goal off to the side burner for now, with the heat on simmer, and I’ll stir it occasionally until it’s time to taste it.

A short update on how things are going so far down in Disney! (If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook this isn’t new news…but thought if do this anyway!)

The travel down here was almost a disaster due to the weather issues out east and the extreme cold in Toronto. After a last minute expensive flight change, we got to Disney in the same day as originally planned. We may honestly still be in Calgary if we hadn’t done this!

5 km was Thursday and we “ran” with my mom. That was just fine! She finished somewhere in the 50s, but hubby and her told me to go ahead at mile 2. I did a slow and easy 44 minutes.

On Friday, I did the 10km with Dan at a slow jog and finished at about 1 hour 9 minutes. Stopped at a few character stops, and it was great! Humidity was rough though!

Today the humidity was even higher! I had planned on doing a slow half marathon at about a 10 minute mile pace and stop at every character stop. I did not want to get wrapped up in the excitement and run to fast I ran with a fellow Dopey Challenge member (and Wisconsinite!) and we kept eachother in line and did just that! I was a bucket of sweat by mile 2 but we had a blast taking photos! Did a 2 hour and 32 minute half, with about 10 photo stops plus stopping to say hi to my husband and mom in Magic Kingdom and his wife near the Polynesian.

Tomorrow is the big show 26.2 miles to go. I am feeling really good actually and pretty pumped and ready to go. Humidity is suppose to break and should be cool at start. I am planning on racing this tomorrow and using all my resources left.

No matter how it goes tomorrow, I am already incredibly happy with the results. This has been an amazing journey this year and I have learned so much about myself as I have trained and competed in all my races. I know my dad is extremely proud of how I have done too. The race tomorrow is for him, as I will be Buzz Lightyear….it will help me soar!

if you are still interested in donating to either of my charities (American Heart Association or Heart & Stroke Foundation) please follow the link above to the CHARITIES page! Thanks so much–anything is appreciated.

In anticipation for my RunDisney experience of my life, the Dopey Challenge, I decided to ask my mom to dig through the old albums and find a handful of “ugly” Disney photos from my trips back In the day. Now, her response immediately was “I don’t want to do this tonight….” Followed by “You weren’t ugly!” Then I restated it as “awkward” and she decided to do the searching.

She sent me 7 photos, in no particular order. However, I will sort them by years in order for your viewing enjoyment. The first photo is from my first Disney trip in October 1991. I was 7.

This is fun and funny because 1.) I have a coordinating lavender and white tank with corduroy shorts. 2.). I have on a giant fanny pack with I am sure just a mini pack of Kleenex and room for my autograph book. 3.). My Mickey Ears don’t fit over my Afro. But I still love the cuteness and innocence of it all

Next up is also from October 1991. Enjoy me posing like a loser on the bridge in the Japan Pavillion at EPCOT:

After 1991, we went again in 1993. That trip provided these gems:

From what I can gather by looking at these two photos….I enjoyed wearing MC Hammer Pants, windbreaker, hats that fit over my Afro, fanny packs were still cool, and I still enjoyed coordinating colors and plaid shorts. :::sigh::::

1995. Family trip #3. Short “Jerome” haircut that fits nicely under a hat, big bad glasses, and a cheesy grin. I think the Evil Queen says it all:

1997 brought the times of shortalls and plaid tank tops. Did I think I was country? Or southern? Or cool? Sweet big pewter LOVE earrings too. This photo makes me smile, though, as it catches my dad and I sitting on the now defunk Mike Fink Keelboats. My Afro is grown out and I’m sporting a middle part. And dad is sporting an embroidered Disney Muscle shirt like it’s his job!

After 1997, my looks and attire got less awkward. Who knows…probably in 5 years I’ll be laughing at crap I wore this year. But at least I grew out of my short Afro hairdo and bad glasses and fanny pack stage. Please note….my mom DID NOT send any photos including shots of her back in the day with us. I think I got my fanny pack skills from her 🙂

In closing…2000. Now in high school and too cool for posing for photos, so instead I’ll sink into the tube at Stormalong Bay at Yacht & Beach Club!

While Andrea is diligently training for her Dopey Challenge, I wish I could say the same was true for my first experience with a 5k. I had every intention of really working on a true 5k training program, but my orthopedic doctor put an end to that. Changed my approach to training at my health club with a walk 3 laps, run 1 lap plan. Twelve laps equal a mile. Tried that a few times, but my knee just wasn’t cooperating. Since I probably can walk faster than my slow jog was, I am now walking as many laps as I can in 45 minutes. My goal is do the 5k in 45 minutes or at least less than an hour. I’m going to try to do some “running” during the race, most likely at the start and again at the end. Since this is not only going to be my first 5k but also my last, I want to look good coming across the finish line!

You may wonder why I even decided to sign up for this 5k given my knee problems. The answer is simple. I’m doing it to support Andrea in her fund-raising efforts in memory of her dad. I’ve made yearly donations to the American Heart Association each year since Andy’s death, but what she’s doing goes much deeper. I am so proud of her efforts, both with her running and fund-raising thus far. Since she asked me to do another post, I’m also going to ask those of your who haven’t donated yet to do so. It doesn’t matter the amount. Even though she has surpassed the goals she set for both United States and Canadian donations, I know those amounts can get even higher with additional support from the followers of her blog. Not only will additional support help Andrea’s cause, it will give me the extra support I need. I’m freaking out about this little 5k! I am not nor have I ever been a runner. Andrea will attest to this!

Now, yes….I know….I don’t HAVE TO go run 7 miles. It’s my choice in matter because of my training. But today I had 7 scheduled, with 5 tomorrow, and then nothing for Thursday and Friday leading into my race Saturday evening in Walt Disney World. The Wine & Dine Half Marathon is this weekend….and I couldn’t be more pumped for my first ever RunDisney …. But I am in a weird flux of tiredness from work and being gone multiple weekends for other races, where all I want to do after a day at work is hole up on the couch.

Example A.…today, I left school at 4:45. Went and got a Skinny Peppermint mocha from Starbucks, got home, and proceeded to eat black bean salsa dip I had made this weekend. The prospect of me getting out on my run by 5:30 was dwindling. Then, I put on my running tights and plopped on the couch. Not good. Then, I whined to my husband that I didn’t want to run. But I somehow mustered up the energy to get my ass out the door.

I had my headlamp on, as it was already dark at 5:45 pm. Daylight Savings Time really does suck! I made my loop on all sidewalks….out of our neighborhood and headed down to Sunridge. It was once I got onto University and nearing Riverstone that I started hearing this devil voice saying to me “you are tired….turn left now and go home. You don’t need to do all 7!” Cut it short ! See….like I have said before, I don’t run with music….so these voices kept taunting me. I had to ignore them.

The farther I kept looping out away from home, the more likely I was to actually do my whole 7 miles. I hit the point of wanting to run straight home after passing the university stadium. I wanted to turn left! But I forced myself forward, swearing in my mind. Who knows….I probably dropped an f-bomb out loud in the dark. Whatever.

Funny thing is that as I head down the far end of Columbia, with a little under 3 miles to go….I hit my happy place. I started thinking about my weekend in Disney I have ahead….I started strategizing how doing a 10pm night race in Eastern Time Zone is going to be just fine for me in Mountain….at this point in my run it was nearing 6:30 pm….that means last week it was 7:30 (and my body still thinks this!) and in Orlando right then it was 8:30! This night race with no elevation would be great! (As long as he humidity breaks!)

I got home with all 7 miles completed. And I was happy. Sure, I had a million things to mark at home (ok, more like three different class sets of assignments, but you get it) but for my own sanity, I needed this run. Even though I didn’t want it to start, I knew I needed it. I now have showered, cleaned, marked one class set of worksheets…..and am in my sweats. With a glass of red wine. And in 48 hours I’ll be waiting at the Calgary airport for my red eye flight to Disney.

Yes, I am still in Walt Disney World. Today was day 10 of our 16 day extravaganza. We are now turning the corner on the weekend and heading into the home stretch! So far, Maureen and I haven’t wanted to kill the other person yet. And that is step one. We keep joking it is like we are back living in a college dorm, and that joke is even more of a real fact right now because as I type this, Maureen is out of the room roaming the balconies of Pop Century talking on her phone and looking for cell phone service. Oh man.

So many of you who read this are my friends and family, so you probably have seen a lot of my updates on Facebook or Twitter. So instead of posting a ton of photos and rehashing a bunch of stuff you may have already noticed along the way during my travels, I am going to touch on a few key Best & Worst Moments of this visit so far. Bear with me here—-I am working on adrenaline, magic and wine.

Worst Ride in Walt Disney WorldHoly shit. I read all the blogs about it, but didn’t believe it could truly be that bad. If you have someone in your group that suggests trying this ride, shut them down, or please skip it yourself. Stitches Great Escape is so horrendous, I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. Maureen did determine the small target audience is ages 4-6, because at that age you have some understanding of simple jokes and are amused by pointless humor and bad effects. Never again!

Best Ride RefurbishmentTest Track. While the ride system is the same as the original, the theming was redone by the new sponsors, Chevrolet. We were both hesitant, but were pleasantly surprised with the main feature of the ride—designing your own vehicle to “test” on the SimTrack. It is fun designing your vehicle in the reshot and we have a good time seeing how it performs on the course. Also, the post show area has lots to do.

Best Ride SurpriseEnchanted Tales with Belle! We did this on our first rope drop morning, as we had heard the lines really get long later in the day. While we don’t have kids, we do have an appreciation for the cuteness factor…and this show has it. It’s an interesting mix of live entertainment, meet and greet, and walk-through experience. Every time will be different, as audience members participate. Highly recommend it, especially if you have small children.

Best Crockpot of ButterNo contest—this category was designed for the French Onion Soup at Les Chefs de France that Maureen had for lunch today. Now, we are not making fun of or complaining about the amount of butter we saw used within the soup….it was delicious. But Maureen knew upon seeing it arrive in front of her it was going to be a rough go.

Best CastmemberOh, and our server at Les Chefs de France was awesome—his name was Mehdi. He was adorable. Had only been in Florida since August 1st. Told us in advance he is still learning his English, and it was his first day on his own at the restaurant. So maybe we had a soft spot for him right away, but he did a very good job, was super sweet and even asked us questions about where we were from and wanted to know where it was located. We could tell he had been a server before because he knew how to carry out lots of plates with ease. Mehdi—your boyish charm will win your tables over.

Worst Counter-Service MealThe “butter chicken” I had at Art of Animation’s Landscape of Flavours. I have eaten butter chicken before from Indian restaurants back home, and other Indian foods also, and this was disgusting, it was almost laughable. Ew.

Best Child Meltdown
Actually haven’t seen a blown out chld meltdown yet. Those are saved for the adults this trip. But we have heard many kids saying some random-ass things. And one of the best was when it was 1 pm at EPCOT, pure sun, no clouds, 95 degree heat…and a set of parents were casually looking at the Yorkshire Fish Shoppe counter service menu, but they walked away. Their son, about 8 or 9, naturally exclaimed “Just pick one restaurant and stick with it, COME ON!” He had to be hungry.

Best Adult MeltdownHands down had to be while at Cinderella’s Royal Table for dinner. And this isn’t one adult, but a whole family that wins the award. Family came in for dinner and immediately started arguing—between the one teenaged daughter and the dad. Mom tried to calm it down telling them to just drop it, and to get over it (must have been from an existing argument earlier). Long story short, dad dramatically left (he was in a wheelchair so it was dramatic as he had to leave but then wait for the elevator), then the problem daughter started crying, mom started getting pissed, second daughter started standing up for her sister, and then mom told them to just wrap up the food and she left. And to top it off, the two daughters were on our bus ride back to the hotel later that night. Nicely done family. Way to waste approximately $250 on a dining experience.

Best Feature of Pop Century ResortThe white blanket on the bed. Wrote a note to the housekeeper to keep using the soft white blankets instead of the nasty pink ones (didn’t write nasty) . They are luxurious. And appreciated in this value resort dorm room.

Worst Feature of Pop CenturyThe cockroach Maureen found in the bathtub that I had to try to get out, but then disappeared down the drain. And currently, the alarm going off in a nearby room which is obviously unoccupied at the moment. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Best Character Photo
Our Toy Story friends meet up, where I got to recreate my dad’s photo from April 2003. The picture says it all.

Only five more full days in the park to go! So many more things to occur…..what will happen next?